Team Atlantis: The Light Lost
by Rebmakash
Summary: Finished! Ties the sequel into the storyline I’ve set up, and puts things in place, as well as sets hints down for other stories. Milo and company find the ruins of Old Atlantis.
1. Longing

Author's Note:

Here I go again! This fan fic has one sole purpose: phase one to make my old stories (save "Rediscovery") fit into the cannon that's now set in place by our three episodes (otherwise known as "Milo's Return"). 

The original fic idea was inspired by the music to, and later the imagery, to Treasure Planet (Jim Saves the Crew, was the first big spark). It started as a few scenes and an idea for a search, something for the crew to do. After the sequel, the story changed from post trilogy to pre. Yes, the old stories will be changed slightly, especially "Revelation." When, I don't know, but the stories will still be about the same. Minor changes include character reaction and especially time. (Instead of WWI it will be closer to or during WWII.) Also, for those of you who have read my stories (thank you for your support!) there will be changes regarding Neil from Dark Continent's Enigma (Duma's view of animal conservation was way before his time, and Neil will react to that, now) and, as you will see in this story, Temlon. 

TEAM ATLANTIS: THE LIGHT LOST 

In a world were a people were returning to glory, a world where balance was eternally delicate, in a world were one world was merging with another, there was Atlantis. 

CHAPTER 1: Longing 

Milo strolled along in the Arboretum. The morning sun's light mingled with the light of the Mother Crystal, and the leaves splashed through the leaves to splatter Milo's skin. The sea breezes were both foreign and familiar. It was a scent he knew, but not here. It was true Atlantis was always surrounded by saltwater, but the smell of the lava and the cavern had always altered its fragrance. In the distance the calls of parrot lizards became confused with that of sea gulls. 

He missed the team. Though there was always more to repair, always more to unearth in the library that was still above water, Milo longed for something more. He was happy teaching others and helping to renew traditions. However, there was a feeling he had come to sample, a sensation he loved almost as much as his wife. It was there when he found Atlantis. It was there when he solved the mysteries of the surface, the surface Atlantis was now a part of. Now, he could only experience it fleetingly with a new find in the Circle Doot Library or a bit of old technology or tradition. It was the thrill of discovery, the thrill of adventure Milo missed. He missed the joy of being with the team. 

The linguist kicked lightly at a rock, which chattered along old stone. He smiled to himself, realizing his desires were the same his grandfather had. The smile faded quickly, and he sighed, putting his thumbs in the green sash along his waist as if there were pockets there. 

He looked back up to the light, thinking of the sun. He chuckled to himself, remembering the day Atlantis rose. He people rejoiced in the golden light, and Kida was no exception. That evening she and Milo sat atop the palace and he showed her the night sky, telling her about the wonders of space. He remembered it well… 

**

. . .

**

"Milo? I have seen many depictions of the moon. Some look like the great disk we see tonight. Others are crescent shaped. Why is this? Have people stylized the moon over the ages?" 

He laughed. "Well, not exactly. People have stylized the moon, but the moon changes. They're called, 'phases.'" 

She cocked her head. "…How can that be?" 

"Oh, well, you see, the moon doesn't actually glow." 

"Then how is it that we see it?" 

"Because we see the sunlight on it." 

"But the sun is not shining." 

"Oh, no. No. The moon is a very long distance away. Let's see. How to explain this…" He ran a hand over his hair before his face lit up with an idea. "Cover your crystal a moment." The scholar held up his own, as well as a fist. "Okay, imagine my crystal is the sun, okay? This is the earth." He looked to his fist. "And… Okay, think of my head as the moon. Really the moon is smaller than the earth, but this will do." 

"Then why do we not use your eye as the moon?" she teased, gazing into them. 

Milo blushed, removing his glasses. "…Okay. Now, you see the light of the sun, my crystal, falls directly onto the moon, my eye, right?" 

"Yes." 

"Well, every month, the path of the earth comes between the sun and the moon. As the earth's shadow falls on the moon, it makes more of a crescent shape." The shadow of his fist came over his face. "Until finally, you have a 'new moon,' which is when the moon is completely in shadow." 

A intrigued grin came over the queen's face, but only briefly. She paused, looking concerned and puzzled, as she ran a hand over her forearm, removing her arm protector. 

"What's wrong?" 

The queen blinked. "My… skin hurts." 

"Wha--? Oh." He looked at her arm as she ran a finger from the once-covered area to her upper arm. "Guess you don't have much resistance to the sun. I mean, you spent your entire life underground. Well, almost. That's the longest you've ever spent in direct sunlight. Longer than even when we were out in the desert." 

"Why would I need to resist the sun? It felt wonderful upon me." 

"No, no, no. I mean you have no resistance to sunburn." 

"The sun burns! It is no wonder you resist it!" 

"No, I mean your skin has no resistance," he began, feeling his own arm. He too, was a little sunburned. 

"My skin _resists_," Kida said, believing she was correcting his grammar. "But how does one's very skin fight it?" 

"Well, your skin created pigments that help. I'm afraid I don't know the details about--" he trailed off as he saw the look on her face. 

"…So… Color in your skin fights the sun. But… If your skin is busy fighting the sun, and your skin is attached to your muscles, does that not hinder you from fighting a different opponent?" 

**. . .**

As Milo stepped from stone to foliage, he shook his head at the thought of the memory. He loved her so much. Often he thought about the day he had proposed to her. Even though in Atlantean years, they knew each other less than a month, their love had been fast and true. 

The scholar paced along, his mind returning to what he had missed, something he wanted to share with Kida once more. He readjusted his glasses as he walked to what seemed to be a flat, moss-covered area, and spoke to himself. 

"…Wouldn't it be great to go through something like that again? The discoveries to stumble upo-- YAHHHH!!!" As soon as Milo stepped upon the flat area it gave way, and eh found himself landing hard and sliding on algae a few yards. He got up painfully, rubbing his rear. The area had clearly been untouched for millennia, having evaded the eyes of repair people. It smelled faintly of mildew, and the poorly-lit air was stale. Looking around, it reminded him of an automotive repair shop. Decayed tools littered the ground, and vehicles were scattered here ad there, all partially submerged under a thin layer of water. One wall seemed entirely composed of old vines, but an occasional sliver of light revealed it was once an open door, having been sealed by the fingers of nature. A shining in the water caught his attention, and he splashed across the room. Uncovering layers of algae and plant growth, Milo beheld a vehicle he had never known. 

His heart began to rise with enthusiasm. 

The vehicle somewhat resembled a lionfish, except it was flattened out notably. A fin of sorts rested long its back, clamped down. Its pectoral fins had been repositioned by Atlantean artists so as to spread from its body, making it even wider. 

Grinning, Milo looked to its head where a crystal slot and instructions were. 

"'…KEH-lokh instructions… Place crystal into slot… Place your hand on the inscription pad… Turn crystal a half turn to the right… Quarter turn to the left… Keep your hand on the pad…' What? '…Grip fin-bar tightly and balance to maneuver…? Avoid operation too close to the Heart of Atlantis…? Emergency commands go through the fin-bar…? To raise crystal fin, place foot or hand on the inscription pad…?' What is this?" He rubbed his neck and put his crystal in, activating the vehicle. 

With a roar and a pop the sail-like fin snapped up to attention, surprising the linguist enough to make him lose his balance. "_Jiminy Christmas_!" Again on his rear, he looked up in awe at the intricate crystalline mesh that glowed on the fin, his eyes examining every link, and looking at the crystal bar that ran alongside the fin. 

Milo's heart raced with another episode of short discovery. 

He got back up to examine it all, stepping onto the vehicle. "This is amazing! This actually appears to be a modification of older technology. The style of most of this, including the sail is different from the quality of some of the text and the fin-bar." He reached out to the glowing rod. "The rod must have been used to help control--" 

The kelokh sped forward, aimed right at the vine wall. "_Holy smokes--!_" Milo held on for dear life, ducking down as the vehicle exploited from the overgrowth, leaving him dangling by one arm. The vehicle flew from the trees, rising swiftly. He swung his other arm forward and pulled himself fully onto the vehicle. A column loomed dead ahead. "Whoooaaa!!!" He leaned to the side, moving every ounce of his scrawny body. Amazingly it turned to the side, but it still rose. 

Milo looked down. People waved to him as they shrank away. The air grew colder, wetter. He had entered a low-hanging cloud. Carefully he leaned forward, and the kelokh stabilized, no longer rising. The linguist breathed a sigh of relief, loosening his death grip on the fin-bar. "Wow… What a ride!" He rubbed his head, wondering how to land. His fingers slid back on the bar, bumping a tiny protrusion. He looked to it just as the pressure of his fingers pressed it in. 

The fin snapped downward, leaving Milo reeling with nothing to hold onto. He cried out as he swung his arms, trying desperately not to fall off. The vehicle pitched when he teetered backwards. Quickly he heaved the other way, and the kelokh angled steeply downward.

All he could do was try to balance. He attempted to inch a toe to the vibrantly glowing inscription pad, but found himself unable to do so without risking a lethal fall. Slipping through the air, he gawked in fear as he went hurtling toward an ancient archway under construction, the men and women working on it watching him. 

"_Coming through!!! Watch out!!!_" He saw vehicles moving out of the way and people running from the site. 

Milo raised his arms in front of his head, ducking down as much as he could dare without falling off. The stone archway whooshed by, and he peeked from his arms to conform it, only to see the form of a giant crab stable straight ahead. He tore through the decorative cloths of the Atlantean version of a barn, and Milo looked back to see the angry crabs screeching after him. He slid a foot backwards inadvertently, and began to rise again. He threw his arms forward to keep his balance, and his foot slid onto the pad. The sail sprang up again, to his relief, as he neared the center of the city. 

Suddenly turbulence arose that threatened to topple the vehicle, and Milo grasped the fin-bar tightly. He looked forward as the whole vehicle shook, as if from gale-force winds, and saw the Mother Crystal straight ahead of him. He gasped, throwing his whole body to the side to turn the vehicle away, but not before it flipped over once. Dizzy, the representative king struggled to regain control of the vehicle as it angled downward again. 

A fallen stone statue menaced him, and he knew he could not avoid it entirely. The scholar swung to the side as best he could, and thought fast. He lowered the fin so it, at least, would avoid the reaching arm of the statue. As he clipped it, the jolt was enough to send him falling forward and slide on the vehicle deck. 

Desperate fingers reached out immediately and bushed the inscription pad. The huge sail sprang back, and he caught some of the links at the edge to avoid falling to the ground. The crystal mesh surged with energy, and it proved painful to hold onto. Grimacing, Milo pulled himself up. Having been hanging off the back, the weight distribution had send the vehicle ascending again. The explorer took hold of the fin-bar, ordering the vehicle though emergency commands. He slowed as he maneuvered his way through a few more structures. 

When the kelokh finally stopped, he stumbled off the vehicle, collapsing on a large stone. Milo smiled, panting, and looked back to the vehicle. "…Definitely quite a ride…" His grin broadened. "Kida's gonna love this." 

**. . .**

"Milo. 

Ther iz some thing yu and thi kween should si. Rite side of 615 Cerkl Din.

-Temlon" 

The linguist laughed when he saw the note. "Ah, Temlon…" He shook his head. The supreme chancellor was an extremely intelligent, benevolent man, but he had never been one for spelling in English. Milo folded the note and slid it into a pocket behind his shoulder sash, placing it with the igneous rocks for Obbi. 

He headed to an orchard near the palace. On his way, he nearly stepped on a small crab. After years of only seeing the gigantic versions often used as pack animals, such a common little creature from the surface was almost a novelty. 

As Milo entered the orchard, the sweet smell of ripening Atlantean fruits welcomed him. In the distance he saw Kida in her street clothes, hanging from a tree limb. He called out to her in her tongue. "Toakh, KEE-duh-toap!" 

The queen flipped over and dropped from the tree branches. "And a hello to you, Milo!" she called back in his language. 

He came and embraced her. Kida's hair was mussed and her skin damp with perspiration. "Again, Kida? Don't you think you're--" 

"'Taking this too far?' Yes, yes," she waved off the comment, "you have said that before." 

"It's just that I've seen Olympic athletes train less." 

"They still do that?" 

"Do what?" 

"The Olympics." 

"Yes, but what I was saying was-- Wait a minute! How do you know about that? The games started 776 B.C. Atlantis was already submerged." 

"…Every once in a great while, a stranger managed to sneak past the warriors. Curious, someone would give them some haven as long as they could. Some stories of the surface came to us that way." 

"Interesting… Where was I…? Oh. But seriously, aren't you taking this a little far? If you weren't in your physical peak then, you certainly are now." 

She turned, jumped, and caught hold of a low branch, nimbly swinging herself up. "I certainly was not then," she growled to herself. Kida stood up carefully, bare feet feeling along the branch. 

"Kida," he sighed, "How many times do I have to tell you? You were just incredibly unlucky. It's not your fault you hit your head when you fought Eric Helstrom. A hit like that could've killed someone." 

The huntress felt some of the reddish-purple fruit on the branches, finally picking two. "It was proof I had allowed my abilities to lessen after the Crystal was restored." She jumped down, handing him one. They sat down together on a large tree root. There was a hint of blush in her cheeks. 

"Just how many hunts did you miss, anyway?" 

"I missed enough." 

"...It still seemed like you were hunting a lot." 

"It matters not. What does matter is that I am getting the exercise I need." 

Milo shrugged with a sigh, then shook his head. He could probably count on the fingers of one hand how many times she had missed in those years. Still, he decided not to press the issue further. The defeat was a source of embarrassment to her, he knew. The cartographer pulled out the note, handing it to his wife after she bit into the Pomli fruit. "It's from Temlon." 

She unfolded the note with a hand clean of juice and read it as they ate. "...That man cannot spell." 

Milo laughed. "You got that right. Do you know what he wants to show us?" 

"No." 

"Hmm... Okay. We need to head over there, then." He bit into the last of the fruit, getting up to walk to a spot in between trees. There Milo dug a shallow hole with his foot. He spat the large seed into his hand and dropped it in. "By the way, where's Obbi?" 

Kida sighed. "He is at the blacksmith's shop. He is not very happy here..." 

"So we have a lonely 'lava dog' on our hands?" Milo said, using his own nickname for the lava whale. 

"...A little. There are other young lava whales in the city, including the one at that shop, but he seems to miss his friends in the wild. More so, I believe he misses the lava. The shop may be warm, but it does not give him the freedom of the lava flows. The fires are simply too small." She rose and dropped the seed from her fruit with Milo's. She pushed the soil back over with her foot. 

The man turned, his love following. "Before I forget, when are they raising the King Stone?" 

"It will be later today. It took quite some time to reconstruct it from the fragments and Packard's pictures." 

"...Yeah. If that king were still alive today, we could've created a new design much easier." He sighed. "Well, accidents happen. If you can have automobile accidents, I guess there aren't exceptions here." 

It was on that ironic note they headed to a vehicle platform to fly to Temlon. 

**. . .**

"As I have said, I cannot figure out anything more from the text." 

Milo looked back over his shoulder at Temlon. The chancellor was relatively muscular, but he also ate well. "If only these instructions weren't so fragmentary. It's clear there's something about a vehicle homing in on a signal of some kind at a destination… And that it's fast, but nothing else." He got up, taking his hand off the badly eroded main panel to look at the large, wrecked vehicle that it once controlled. The linguist's best guess was that it was fashioned like a swordfish, judging by what remained of the snout. Along the water's edge, close to where the old vehicle lay, was a long piece of stone he guessed was the swordfish's bill. "You know, I'm wondering if there were little stations like this across the city or even the continent. I mean, this has the number "2" written on it. It would make sense. It would be kind of like that ancient monorail, but independent of the tracks." The king shook his head slightly. It would be harder now. Though Atlantis had risen, it had only risen high enough to show what had existed above water before Milo discovered it. A while library was hidden below the tides, and he hoped the crystals in the scroll casings and book spines would be enough to preserve them until they were once again accessible. The scholar suspected if that extra amount was above water he might find another station or two. 

"Perhaps others exist below the waves," Kida suggested. Milo smiled to her, as had been thinking of the same thing. 

"Either way," Temlon began, "this vehicle is far from usable. I doubt it could be repaired, even if we knew how." 

"Yeah, but it does provide interesting mysteries," the scholar smiled, walking over to the wreckage. "Take a look at this. It seems like the inner walls were actually lined with crystals. The walls would be completely glowing from the viewpoint of the rider. Looks like it only seats one, though." 

"How odd. I wonder why?" Kida shifted her weight to the other hip. 

Milo sighed. "Well, until we find some description of it in the library, who knows?" He readjusted his glasses, pausing long enough for the chancellor to speak up. 

"Khobdesheh is actually there now, trying to figure out what it is, exactly. Obviously it is a transport of some kind, but details are..." He pointed to the control panel, the letter badly eroded. "...Unclear." 

The scholar nodded. It was not uncommon to find Khob in the Library. When the lesser choncellor was not studying what little he could about technology, or about governments, he initiated friendly debates with Milo about culture. Though they had their own, very different opinions on things, it very rarely hindered a good discussion. Milo changed the subject. "Any news from the diplomats?" 

Temlon laughed, his voice rich and deep. "Yes. The ambassadors of foreign countries believe we do not exist. They are under the impression this is some hoax." 

Milo chuckled. Kida cocked her head, smiling, and was amused at the notion of "not being real." 

The linguist wiped away a jovial tear. "Well, are they meeting with us anyway?" 

"They think it is a waste of time, but yes, a few said they would come, 'next month.' In other words, around two haramaken." 

"Okay, good," he finished laughing. "Considering world politics, we'd better establish ourselves if we're going to be here. Make a friend or two, start some trade." His mind drifted, and he heard Temlon and Kida continue the discussion, voices fading off. 

Milo thought back to decades ago. He knew about the assassination, the battles that blazed in Europe. The museum's "dungeon," then, Atlantis itself, had been his home. For a few years he resided in the sunken empire, blissfully unaware of the atrocities. A small Whitmore expedition had made their way down to Atlantis, bringing with them the last of some new technology. On their way down, they had set up relay stations fro radios, designed by Wilhelmina Packard, the system being a predecessor to her simple phone system. 

It was through this expedition's new technology Milo learned America had joined the war. He felt hopeless. Atlantis still needed his help to get o its feet again, so leaving was not an option. The empire's mighty technology could easily lead to an American victory, but then there was no way to prevent the technology from being misused. Rourke had summed it up perfectly in his corruption of Darwin. In war it was all about "survival of the fittest," and "natural selection." There was nothing natural about war, but the power hungry and the greedy saw it as such. Revealing such technology, or especially revealing Atlantis itself at that time, would destroy his own dream, not to mention endanger or even obliterate countless lives. 

Yet he could not tell Kida or any Atlantean for that matter, or he would risk the possibility they would volunteer. Kida, dutiful as she was, he had to be especially careful of. He feared she would risk the lives of her people if, and only if, she believed the lives saved would greatly outnumber the lives lost of her people, or even sacrifice herself just for the life of a single person. 

Chances were, that would have been very much the case. 

Milo did the only thing he could. He radioed Whitmore to urge him to contribute as much as he could to the war. He found it unnecessary, as the millionaire was already participating. Normal industrial production had turned into war manufacturing. 

"Milo?" 

He remembered how hard it was to tell Kida about the war, and wondered if it had been one of the biggest secrets kept by a person. 

"Milo...?" 

The scholar had felt guilty keeping it from her. Yet when he explained, though she was far from thrilled with him, she understood why he had done so. 

Suddenly Mio found his glasses snatched from his face. "Hey!" He reeled around to see Kida, hand on a cocked hip, holding them up. Chuckling, she and Temlon smiled at each other. "What was that all about?!" 

She laughed. "Welcome to the world beyond your daydreams." 

"A man came to summon you," the supreme chancellor gestured. "The king stone is nearly complete, and it was deemed best if you came to see it." 

"Oh. Okay. Sorry about that." 

The only response was a chuckle from the other two. 

"So, um, we better get going. Don't wanna waste time." 

Grinning, Kida shook her head at his trying to change the subject away from his drifting attention. "Yes, we do need to go. Goodbye, Temlon." 

"See you later, Temlon! Thanks for bringing this to our attention." 

"It was my pleasure. Farewell." 

They parted company. The location was not far away, certainly not worth the trouble of finding a vehicle. Soon the king stone would be moved via the stone vehicles to the main plaza for the raising ceremonies. For now, it was still under construction. 

Kida brushed the back of Milo's hand, and he knew the cue well. Lovingly he took it as they walked, taking comfort in the embrace of her fingers. With his angular, dexterous ones he returned the grasp, sliding a finger carelessly over her tendons. 

"You have been distant lately," Kida said softly. 

"...I have?" 

"Yes. Is something troubling you?" 

"No, not really. I mean, I've been thinking about things..." 

"Like what?" 

"Oh, you know, the usual. How nice it's been to have our wedding rings back... To feel it on my finger again." He smiled, remembering how happy they had been when they were repaired, chipped stones re-polished and heavily scratched metal restored. "How nice it is to feel it on your hand again," he slid his fingers over her ring. " Just everything from the war to the designs on the kraken when it died." 

"Yes, the latter in particular concerns me..." she looked right at him, "...too." 

"What?" 

"You are thinking of troubling things. Thus, you _are_ troubled." 

"Well, if you put it that way... Kinda. But..." 

"But is there something else?" 

"Oh, it's nothing." 

"Milo..."

Her free hand went to her hip. 

"Well, I don't know. Maybe just have a little, 'cabin fever.'" 

The queen's eyes went wide and she let go of him, placing a hand on his forehead. "How could this happen? It must be a disease you have not yet had for the crystal not to protect you from it!" 

"No, no," he laughed, taking her hand again, "It just means I feel a little antsy, like I want to get out of the house, as it were." 

She blinked. "You are outside already." 

"No, I mean--" 

"Or... Is it that your grandfather's blood burns in your veins?" 

Milo was surprised. "Well, metaphorically. But yeah." He sighed. "Ever since the events that led to the raising of Atlantis, I can't help but think there are more myths out there waiting to be found." 

The woman smiled, her tattoos enhancing her expression. It was nice for Milo to see her with the full set again. How embarrassing it was to discover the angles of the royal rank and wedding tattoos gave it a slightly different meaning by ancient tradition, something that had been lost over the years. It was especially bad for Kida, since she discovered, after so many years of wearing the tattoos on her face, that together with those angles, it meant that she had "saved Atlantis from a toilet." Finally, they had been corrected, though Milo did not really notice a real difference. "Then we shall have to do something about that," he heard her respond. 

Milo grinned back, but noticed her smile fade, and she looked away. 

"I, too, have felt anxious." 

"You want to leave Atlantis?" It was a question rather than an offer. 

She paused. "Not necessarily. It is just that I never have enough time to explore here, through either the reconstructed buildings or scrolls to my spirit's content. I want to learn!" She had stopped, her fists expressively clenched. "There is more about the past of our city than I could ever hope to learn, and now some of it is once again submerged, out of my reach. But I would like to try!" 

Milo smiled. "The feeling's mutual." They began to walk again. "A lot more enriching than collecting coins," he laughed at his personal joke. 

They walked in silence a moment before Kida spoke up. "How often do you think of the history of Atlantis?" 

"How often do I breathe? It's kinda what I do now. It's my job." 

"Of course." 

"It'd be nice if we could just go back in time and see it." 

She laughed at the notion. "It _would_ be nice." 

"...Or to find the remains of Old Atlantis. The rest of the continent that the Crystal couldn't protect. That would be great." 

He saw Kida's eyes light up and he smiled back to her. They both stopped. "Do you think we could find it?!" 

"My gosh, I don't know! If Atlantis sank straight down and rose straight up... It could be right below us! Right under our noses! Why didn't I think of this before?! What a great resource!" 

"how much do you think survived?" 

"I have no clue, not much I'm sure, but it's worth a shot!" 

"The MEH-behl-moak was so powerful. It would be incredible if we could find something!" 

"Well, Atlantis was built to last. Many ruins that age are in much worse condition than Atlantis was when we found it. We may find some foundations." 

"Do you think Whitmore would mind funding it?" 

"Hey, he said he'd provide air fare fro us to see the world. Why not for us to see the past of Atlantis?" The energy of his grin, his enthusiasm, could have powered a city. "I don't think he'd mind, but we should ask." 

Kida's gaze was distant, dreamy, but her voice was clear. "Come, we must attend to the king stone. After the ceremony later today we shall contact him!" She blinked, her gaze back to normal, and took hold of Milo's arm, pulling him away. 

The scholar's mind was elsewhere. His pulse flew in excitement at the hope of some great discovery. Milo's smile broadened. "...Atlantis is still waiting," he thought. 

Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The Name "Shards of Chaos" is property of Disney. The term "gorlock" is property of Disney Interactive. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Bendoh, Rourke and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company. 


	2. So It Begins

CHAPTER 2: So It Begins 

The railing was a comfort, a way to steady himself. Indeed, it moved with everything else, but at least it was consistent with that, unlike the treacherous waves. Milo closed his eyes a moment. 

"Are you all right? You seem a little pale." 

He took a deep breath, the feeling passing. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little sea sick, I guess." 

"…The sea makes you sick?!" 

The scholar smiled, for the look on Kida's face was memorable. "It's a type of motion sickness. It happens when your surroundings move in a way you're not used to. Well, to some people anyway. I used to be worse with this. It's doesn't affect me as badly anymore." 

"The sea can make you sick…" he hear her repeat, not completely believing. She shook her head before her expression changed, returning to her standard look of wonder to a new set of surroundings 

Kida's eyes were wide, sparkling with curiosity. The day was bright and the ocean glittered contentedly in tranquil blue. An occasional soft-looking cloud blanketed the sun for a short moment before it would gloriously reveal its radiance once more. The woman looked around, and Milo sighed, marveling at the way she looked in the morning sun. 

They entered a doorway that led into the interior of the ship, the_ Atlantean_. It was not as large as the _Louis and Clark_, but it was none the less impressive. A sub hung above the water with all the magnificence of its predecessor. The_ Sea Hawk _was much smaller than the _Ulysses_ was, but it had a similar build. Its riveted hide was the color of rusted iron and steel until it reached the nose where large, orange-tinted windows allowed the bridge to look outward. Unlike the Ulysses, there was no rotating bathysphere for the bridge. The stout ship's "tail" was a cross, looking as if it had taken some inspiration from the tail of the Leviathan. Stabilizing "wings" streaked across the sides, and hinges where they would be controlled were clearly visible. There were only a few gun ports when compared to its forerunner. 

Milo put his hand on Kida's shoulder. She had never seen the _Ulysses_, and she was in awe of the _Sea Hawk_. It was a feeling he knew well, and he cherished the fact she could feel it too. Her feelings must have been much like his were on the 1914 expedition, he thought. 

"Milo! Kida!" They turned to see Mr. Whitmore in nautical garb, a young man by his side, and the scholar smiled. He noted the lack of Whitmore's cane, something the millionaire had put aside. The power of the crystal Milo knew was hidden beneath his shirt was been a powerful healing force. He decay of old age had been repaired, and the man's health had returned. 

"Mr. Whitmore! It's great to see you again!" 

"The same to you both, my boy. I have someone for you to meet. This is Brian Elias. He's going to be my 'heir' when I mysteriously die in a few weeks." 

"Die?" Milo was confused. 

"Well, the world can't go thinking I'll live forever, now, can we? In a few weeks, the obituaries will say I passed away from natural causes. Young Brian here will act as my go-between. While most people will think I've passed on, I'll still be there, behind the scenes." 

"That's brilliant! Mr. Elias, it's a pleasure to meet you." 

"Same here, Milo. Please, call me Brian." They shook hands, and Kida bowed in greeting. 

"So, you two have a smooth journey past the Leviathan?" 

"Oh, yes. From what I heard from Audrey, the Leviathan still grabbed them last time, though it didn't really attack. When it does its job, it does its job! Still, a part of me wishes we hadn't had to close up the volcano route. It would have been easier, but it was safer for the Atlanteans." 

Whitmore lifted a scraggily brow at the queen, who was quickly taken in by the whole scene once again. Her eyes were elsewhere. "Pretty impressive, wouldn't you say?" 

"Oh, I certainly would say that!" She watched as a few altered Atlantean vehicles, made waterproof, and modified subpods were being loaded. 

"Aside from the subpods you used when dealing with the Kraken, you've never seen the depths, have you?" 

"No, Mr. Whitmore," she smiled, finally looking at him. "It will be wonderful to enjoy it. And it is thanks to you, both for that and the opportunity to unlock the secrets claimed by the ancient floodwaters so long ago." 

"And thanks from me too! I mean, it feels like the 1914 expedition all over again! Well, though no one will be trying to take a power source from a civilization that dearly needs it… But it's an honor to be a part of this again!" he added quickly, but honestly. 

Whitmore chuckled at Milo. "The honor's mine. Not everyday you get to help a queen and a cartographer-turned-would-be-king learn about their empire's past. Oh, by the way, before I forget, remember that snowstorm in Iceland you encountered?" 

"Yeah, the strangest weather." 

"Not only did the snowstorms stop after you stopped Helstrom, reports say the snow has finally melted." 

"That's good to hear. I hope the ecosystem will recover." 

"From what I understand, it's on its way. Helstrom really made a mess of that place with his idea of Iceland and its gods." 

"Hey! Milo! Kida!" The linguist turned to see Sweet waving, as well as other familiar faces greeting them. 

"Deh-GEEM TEH-wan-toap! (Greetings, everyone!)" Kida gave Audrey a tight hug. 

"Guys! Boy are you a sight for sore eyes!" 

"Y'know, I could do something about that," Sweet chuckled, holding up his bag. 

Whitmore simply smiled and moved to the side as five fellow crew members rushed up. 

"Milo, eef we do find zee remains of ancient Atlantees, I would highly suggest we take a sample of rock eendeegenous to zee area to see what zee bedrock of zee conteenent was like, and to deecern eef it was uneeform throughout. I steel have samples from zee leeving Atlantees for compareeson." 

The scholar laughed at the rodent-like geologist. "Okay, Mole, okay, we'll get a sample or two." 

Audrey groaned, then mumbled something about the little Frenchman talking about a new sample for his collection since they met up earlier. 

Vinny took the match out of his mouth, a habit it seemed he had re-acquired, and grabbed Milo by a shoulder. "'Ey, 'ow's it been?" 

"Oh, all right, how about you?" 

"Eh, kinda strange, actually. Seems the moment I ah say I won't start another flower shop, my Aunt Rosa insists on starting one 'erself. I've been ah usin' some ah my pay from Whitmore Industries to 'elp fund 'er. So there is ah family flower shop after all." 

Milo chuckled shaking his head. "No Chinese laundry next door this time?" 

"No, we made ah sure ah that." 

"'Speakin' of makin' sure," Cookie interrupted, serving spoon in hand, "Did y'folks make sure ta git yur breakfast?" 

Kida grimaced and Milo answered quickly. "Yes, actually, 'ROY-soh-bah EH-tal-eh-ten.' Very good." 

"Ah, shucks, had some eggs I fried up on top of the injun room boiler. Ah, well, they'll keep." 

Packard's voice came thought the speakers. "Attention: _Sea Hawk_ crew members. Launch will begin in ten minutes." 

"Oh, gosh! That's us already!" Bye Mr. Whitmore!" Milo and the others rushed toward the ramp to board. 

"Farewell!" Kida called. 

"We'll make you proud!" the linguist waved. 

"I have no doubt of that!" he heard from the millionaire before the doors closed. 

The interior of the sub was made intricate with dials, valves and panels. Labyrinthine twistings of pipes snaked their way along the ceilings. Commands and comments echoed through the halls like whispers. Milo looked to his wife, her eyes conveying she was marveling. As was typical of her wonder, her arms and fingers were spread. Curiously she ran thin fingers over the tubing as she walked. Grinning, the representative king followed as she darted from one thing to the next, peeping into open doorways and new corridors. 

At last the bridge opened up before them, the two tiers busting with activity as time counted down to launch. The linguist looked around, inhaling deeply in contentment. 

As the countdown neared its finish, Milo found his wrist snatched and pulled. Up the stairs the ecstatic Kida pulled him. They could see through the bridge windows the interior of the _Atlantean_, areas being cleared quickly. 

Commands were thrown skillfully across the bridge, and the submarine jolted as it was released, hitting the water. The two steadied themselves on the railings as the _Sea Hawk _was fully submerged. 

Milo watched Kida turn, her lips parted in amazement at the vast blue depths, something she could now fully take in. Her very breathing supported this. Awe-struck, the queen put her hands up on the glass, and Milo stood beside her, gently taking her waist. 

He knew the feeling going through her, as it in fact surged through him. The thrill of impending discovery, the grandeur of the vessel and the sheer power of it made their spirits soar far beyond the limits of the waves above. 

"This is it," Milo thought, "It's happening again. And this time, it's not all about money!" And he felt it. The feeling he relished crackled inside him with exuberance, and his crooked grin gave away every volt of it. He knew this is where he belonged, not just in Atlantis, but alongside his wife, a part of his biggest dream, and always on the verge of incredible discovery. That was what burned inside of him, and he loved. It was the flames licking at his soul, leaving it to drift effortlessly on the thermals toward heaven. 

He felt Kida's hand grab his, and he saw her face turn back to his, aglow in delight. She said nothing, but pointed to sleek shapes in the water. "Ketaken," Milo said. "Whales." They neared, their enormous bodies dwarfing the submarine. The pod harmlessly went around, but passed close, as if to inspect the strange object with a hide of metal. As their powerful tails churned the water they vocalized, and the couple's lips were parted in wonder. "Not even whalers have such brilliant views," Milo thought. 

The _Sea Hawk _thus descended into the darkness of the vast ocean. 

**. . .**

Milo looked at the wires and pipes that covered the ceiling, his mind in other places. The scholar thought of everything from the closing of some "Hollywood Tower Hotel" to the heated events in Europe he had read about in the paper Whitmore gave him. It was rolled up on a small desk in the cabin. 

He couldn't sleep. His heart was too full of anticipation of what they would find. They had thought it best if they had gotten some sleep, but Milo was discovering how unlikely that would be. The scholar sighed and rolled over, looking off the top bunk into the bottom. Kida laid there, hands behind her head and one knee up in the air. Her eyes were closed, half-covered by her bangs that were growing out again, appearing more like when he first met her. 

She never slept like that. Unless she was relaxing, Kida curled up when she laid down, and felt ill-at-ease doing otherwise. Milo remembered she said she had acquired the habit due to some bad experience on a hunting trip, but he could not remember exactly what she said. It had been many years since she told the story to him. 

"You're not fooling me. You can't sleep either." 

"Why would I try to fool you?" Her eyes opened. "If I cannot sleep, it would be good to conserve my energy, at least." 

"True." Milo rolled over, looking at the ceiling again. 

"…Why are my ears snapping so much? They did not so much when I traveled to the surface when Atlantis was submerged." 

"You mean your ears are _popping_?" 

"If that is your phrase for it, yes." 

"Well, the weight of the water makes us have to pressurize the sub. Plus the pathway to Atlantis, though submerged, wasn't quite this deep. We came up into the 'grease trap' at an elevation higher than this." 

"Grease trap? Oh! Yes. But is that why it is taking so long to get there?" 

"Yes and no. I mean, all we have to do is follow the pillar Atlantis is sitting on now. My gosh, it's amazing it doesn't collapse. Anyway, the _Sea Hawk_ also has to pause briefly to pressurize. Otherwise we could get something called, 'the bends.'" 

"If we did not pause we would be bent?" 

"No, well, I meant... A study Whitmore Industries has done indicates it can do structural damage, but what I mean is if pressurization procedures are not done properly, nitrogen bubbles will form in the blood." 

"And… This is bad?" 

"OH, YES! It could kill you." 

"Oh…" 

There was a long silence. 

"Milo and Kida Thatch, please report to the bridge." Packard's drone over the Speakers was unmistakable. 

"That would be us!" Milo grinned, hopping out of the bunk. 

"…At least we will be missing Cookie's meal," she jested. 

**. . .**

"I can't believe this. This shouldn't even be here…! Not this much!" Milo adjusted his glasses as he looked on, the exterior lights of the sub illuminating the sea floor, the very place of Atlantis's past. Lava lazily crept along the sea bed. 

"There are a couple of intact buildings!" Sweet marveled. "Some big ones too!" 

"How is this possible?" Audrey slipped on her glove. 

"Zee effects of thousands of years of salt water and gentle sheefteeng of zee earth's crust should have left much less that this." 

"Perhaps something in the technology allowed some buildings to survive?" 

"That's my best guess, Kida." Milo scratched the back of his head. "That would be some architectural achievement, though!" 

"'Ey, take ah look over there." Vinny pointed with a hand. "Looks ah like some sorta opening we might be able to get into. An' if not, eh, the subpods would. Definitely the subpods. 'Course, we'll need to look for your 'pet lobster,' still. Might ah known we were friends last time, but not before givin' us a hug. A big one." 

"Don't worry, Vinny, I've never come across a record of the Leviathan in these parts. It's always been the guardian to the_ gateway_ to Atlantis. And we haven't seen it yet." 

"But when Atlantis rose, could it have moved? I would prefer I don't have to be part of the work crew to put this scrap heap back together." Audrey crossed her arms. 

"Maybe, but I'd be more concerned the architecture doesn't collapse on us when we take an aqua-evac in. It may seem stable, but we'd better be careful." 

Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The Name "Shards of Chaos" is property of Disney. The term "gorlock" is property of Disney Interactive. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Bendoh, Rourke and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company. 


	3. Exploring the Shelter

CHAPTER 3: Exploring the Shelter 

"Hold on. Do you see shimmering up there?" Audrey leaned forward, a gloved hand holding the control of the aqua-evac. 

Vinny sat in the other seat, but all Milo could see was the back of his head from that angle. He scholar undid his seat belt. "Yeah, I do…" 

"It looks like an air pocket." 

Audrey flipped several switches. "I'm bringing her up for a look." 

After only a few seconds, the aqua-evac lurched, breaching the surface. Water ran down the view port, distorting the image. "Say put," the mechanic began, standing up, "I'll go up and take a look." Milo held up a pointer finger in protest, but received only a benign shove to the side. The king shrugged and sat back down next to his wife. He heard the creaks and squeals of the hatch being undone and waited. 

There was a long silence after a "click." 

"Hey, Audrey, are you okay?" 

"The only thing he heard was a faint, "No es posible…" 

"Audrey?" 

"Milo? No, _all_ of you should take a look at this…" 

No one hesitated, especially Milo, the first to climb up. 

The aqua-evac's search beam illuminated an extremely wide ramp, the remains of what may have been a loading or transportation area. A few vehicles were strewn about, some damaged beyond repair. The walls were decorated in designs typical of the culture's art during the pre-cataclysmic period. A long hall faded into darkness. 

The cartographer glanced around to the looks on the faces of the other five that had come along, suddenly wondering if Obbi was lonely at the blacksmith's up above. 

"Atlantis must have been the inventor of all 'grease traps,'" Sweet commented to Milo. Kida gave him an inquisitive look. 

It did not take long for them to inch the aqua-evac closer to make the ramp accessible to them. The team opened the back hatch, a large door that revealed a vehicle bay. Whether from America or Atlantis, they doubted they'd need much from there. It did allow for them to set up a communications relay station, part of which needed to be put inside the evac. Milo marveled at the new technology he held in his hand, a small, five-pound radio of sorts, he thought, that he could strap to his waist. It was undoubtedly one of Packard's best gadgets she had been working on for Whitmore Industries. He wondered just how long she had been working on it, since he seemed to recall her gossiping about an idea on the way down to Atlantis so many years ago. 

The scholar pressed a button and held it to his mouth. "Hey, can you hear me, Mrs. Packard?" 

A voice sprinkled with static droned through the box. "Yeah, I hear ya, whatcha want?" 

"Just testing the radio to see if it works. This is great! We can report back to the sub! It looks like there's a lot more than just an air pocket down here. We're going to check it out. I needed to see if I could contact you first." 

"You can also contact each other s long as relay up to the sub. Push the other button, the one on your right. That will cut communications with the sub and activate a signal between all of you." 

"Thanks, we'll try that. Bye!" 

"Yeah, yeah." 

Milo held down the other button, hearing a click through the speaker. "Anyone else getting this?" His voice came from the waists of his friends. "Hold down the right button to speak. The little green one." 

Mole came in through the other end. "I see zee communications are workeeng." 

"Very well, indeed." Though Kida was only ten feet away, she tried it anyway as she walked. 

"Ey, this thing on? Eh, I guess so." 

Sweet chuckled on the radio. He was across the chamber. "Hey, Audrey, you there?" 

There was a crash in the vehicle bay. An irritated voice came over the radio. "You know, tightening this part of the frame takes a lot of attention." 

Milo was chagrinned. "Sorry about that, Audrey." 

"You better think about what you do if you want a stable chaise on a truck! Or else something else is going to come crashing down…!" 

The scholar cut communications, not really wanting to think about what would come crashing down. A second later he heard a click from his box and a woman's voice. 

"Hello? Milo?" 

"Milo here, he answered. 

"You should see these markings." 

"I'll be right there." He went to Kida, who stood at the entrance to the hall. 

"It says, 'shelter.'" 

Milo thoughtfully put a knuckle of a finger to his lip before speaking. "I seem to remember in a scroll reading something about Atlantean shelters. They were specifically designed to hold up against hurricanes and even to resist tsunamis, not to mention enemy attack. It was a new type of engineering they had planned on putting throughout the continent… I guess it worked better than they could have hoped." 

So it _is _an architectural wonder after all." 

"Seems to be." He held up his crystal to the carvings. 

"Wait." Kida held up her own crystal to an old lamp, activating it. To everyone's amazement, it also turned on the lights down the hall, a tunnel that led perhaps one hundred feet before turning to the left. Along the ceiling, pointing at now crumbled, inaccessible doorways, were small stone sea snakes. 

"Well… That was a good idea." 

"Yes." 

"Now… These markings seem to indicate…" Milo's fingers found a small notch in the wall. He pulled at the edge until he heard a pop. A small door opened at the command of his pull, revealing a scroll and sets of gauges and dials. "My gosh. They're… temperature and pressure gauges it says. For… Under the complex?" 

Kida shrugged. "Perhaps it has something to do with how well it has lasted. We will look n the way. For now, we will gather the others and explore." 

**

. . .

**

"Sure ah lot ah loading areas… This is the third, unless you, ah, count that blocked passageway. Looked like it could ah been one." 

"Might have," Milo replied, marking this spot on the crude map he was making. 

"Once a cartographer, always a cartographer," he heard the Lantina murmur, looking up from the scroll from the first gauge panel. 

"And I have not see you take your eyes off of those blueprints, Audrey," Kida commented, crossing her arms. "And you cannot even read them." 

"Hey, you said it yourself, you can't either. Technical terms you don't know, different dialect you're not used to… Admit it, I'm still the best shot at figuring this out." 

"Just a minute," Milo continued, finishing. "I want to make sure we don't get turned around." He took out a scrap piece of paper and found a set of gauges, closing the piece in the door to mark that they had been there. "Second set of valves and gauges, too." 

"Why would they need more than one large loading bay?" Sweet asked, watching Mole examining the stone of the floor. 

"Well, it's a fast entrance for people and supplies, and in an emergency, you'd want all of your options open, I guess." He finished and they resumed their scouting. 

Kida wrinkled her nose slightly. 

"You smell that too?" Audrey asked. 

"It is a very old smell…" she began. "Much like…" 

"Sacré bleu!" 

They rounded the corner, revealing a much larger hall. It was not unoccupied, and various shouts and exclamations followed Mole's. 

"Oh my gosh, these poor people!" Milo looked on, seeing long-dead bodies strewn across the floor. Ancient, half-powdered skeletons stared at the explorers with dark, empty eyes and broad smiles. 

Sweet and Kida began a little prayer. 

"They all died down here.. Ran out of food and water…" Audrey looked on in sad amazement. 

"Not to mention their bodies loosing valuable meenerals like calcium… Eef they had enough food down here, they might have died, instead, from malnutrition." 

The mechanic sighed. "With you, everything's minerals." 

"Thank you, eet eez who I am," Mole said proudly, stepping forward. Audrey shoved him away. 

"I wouldn't doubt there's more than these people here," Milo stated gravely, stepping over rib cages with decomposed, faded clothing. "C'mon I see a side passageway up here." 

Another gauge was marked on the map as they entered the passageway. At the end of it was a familiar control panel and a canal that ran perpendicular to the passage. In the shallow canal, facing darkness, was the same swordfish vehicle Milo and Kida had seen before, scraped and pitted, but intact. 

"Lemme see here…" Vinny spoke up as he began to count on his fingers. "Eh, there's a shark, narwhal, barracuda, crab, lobster… Piranha, squid, flying fish… even that sea horse, sea dragon monerail… and now ah swordfish. No tuna?" 

Milo laughed. "No, sorry, haven't seen a tuna." He examined the control panel enthusiastically, now that he could actually read it. The writing was almost pristine. 

"Whatcha got there?" Sweet asked. 

"Oh, there's one of these in Atlantis, well, the Atlantis above us, I mean. I just couldn't make out all the writing." 

After a few moments Audrey growled. "Will you at least read it aloud? In a language we can understand?" 

"Oh! Sorry. Yes. Basically it's a personal transport that homes in on certain crystal structures. It… has some way of avoiding obstacles like trees or buildings, though there's no explanation here as to how hit works. You just punch in the station number, basically, and it'll take you to it." He pointed to the Atlantean number fifteen on the panel. "Wonder why someone didn't try to use this to leave… It looks like it seals completely." 

"Guilt, or the doubt it would take them someplace safe? The continent did sink, you know," Audrey suggested, pointing the obvious out to Milo. 

Milo looked a little sheepish. 

"I don't know about you guys, but 'los muertos' outside are giving me the creeps even in here," the mechanic thumbed. "Let's go." 

There was a general agreement. Not even Milo hesitated, despite what was there, except to jot it down on the map and make a rushed rubbing. 

The next hall was much narrower, and it also had its share of stone sea snakes mounted to the ceiling of the intricate halls. Milo found it odd to find a couple of skeletons lying in the doorway to a room, but there were massive holes in their rib cages. The bones were blackened along the edges. However, it was clear they had entered the main part of the complex. There were doorways on both sides, many of which were open. Most of the others were locked, jammed, or debris had fallen in front of it, making the stone entryways inaccessible. 

"Mole, we're done in this room." Audrey, scroll still in hand, folded her arms. 

"Wait! Surely even Milo would agree with me that exameening these soils from zee plants ees proof Atlantees spanned zee globe in ets eefluence! Zee plants were potted in their natural soils from conteenents across zee globe!" 

"The _dead_ plants. Their just pots of dirt, Mole." 

Milo sighed as the conversation went on and looked to his wife, only to see she had already gone on. He ran a hand over his head and exited while the others remained, trying to pry Mole away from the earth. It was true he wanted to know how far Atlantis spanned, but just from his studies before discovering it, he had a pretty good idea, plus the records in the Circle Doot Library confirmed it. The erudite man walked down the hall to the next accessible door. 

The room was unbelievable. 

Crystal circuitry and dials lined the walls, ceiling and floor, and it clearly went deep into the stone. A few pieces had fallen from the ceiling, but even there the designs glowed. The intricate patterns also revealed themselves though a large pool of water spanning half the room, and Milo doubted the water was supposed to be there. 

Kida sat upon some of the rubble, her silhouette a black cat against the vivid blue light. "It is beautiful…" she said, not taking her eyes off of it. 

He blinked, taking it all in. "…Yeah. …Got that right." Milo sat down next to her, watching the slight reflections off the glowing blue water dance as if they were flame. "This must be the relay station for all the information in the complex. A main room where those gauge and dial panels connect to." 

His wife was silent a moment. "…This makes me wonder all the more how advanced our people were before the cataclysm. I have read things even so strange was people using their minds to speak to their pets and inserting something into the chest to correct a Spirit's mistake as to how the heart should beat." 

"You're not the only one to wonder. You're definitely not alone in that." He put an arm around her, and she smiled, leaning up against him. They looked on into the tranquil lights and watched how the glow from the water rippled on the ceiling. The gentle sound of the water was soothing to the couple as they sat together, finding unparalleled joy just to be together. The babble of some condensation in the room falling into the pool gossiped, the rippling of the water spreading a rumor of their embrace. Light reflecting off the ripples created waves of light that greeted and welcomed the couple to the sanctuary, and the flutter for their hearts in the midst of discovery was strong enough to beat down any obstacle, ad answer the very water. It was an amazing moment. 

But it did not last long. 

"You two want to be left alone?" Milo and Kida jumped as they heard a voice both from their waists and from behind them. Audrey was leaning against the doorway, grinning, communicator in hand. She had what appeared to be the ancient diagrams and blueprints open in her hands. It did not surprise Milo, but he smiled, since she could not accuse him of anything by this point. 

"Oh, no, that's' okay. I mean, you gotta admit, it's beautiful in here." 

Audrey shook her head and gave him a smack on the shoulder as he went out the door. "Well, we just found something you two should see." 

Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The Name "Shards of Chaos" is property of Disney. The term "gorlock" is property of Disney Interactive. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Bendoh, Rourke and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company. 


	4. Discoveries

CHAPTER 4: Discoveries 

The door had been easy to open. The gate, however, the intricate obstacle made of swirling metal bars, could not be moved even when Sweet added in his muscle, or, at least, that was what Audrey said. 

"You see that?" She pointed to a panel to the right of the door. 

"Yeah. I wonder what it is…" 

"Don't ask me. It's the two of you who can read it." 

Milo and Kida walked over to it, reading. 

"'SEH-kah-nokh TEE-mihk doot.' 'Type two security." Hmmm… "Place hand into slot, wait for analysis…'" Milo looked to Kida, who shrugged. 

She followed the directions, and as she did so, a glow came from the slot. Curious, she peered inside, or tried to, rather, before yelping and pulling her hand out. 

"What's wrong?! What happened?!" 

The queen watched the glow disappear from her fingertip. "Something stabbed me…!" 

A hum came from the panel, and the gate slid open. 

"Oooookay…" came Milo. "That's one strange gate lock." 

They entered, finding another gauge panel, but Milo didn't even try to mark it. He was too taken aback by everything elsewhere. 

The room was large and filled with tables, each strewn with strange objects and papers. Bizarre devices, many of which seemed badly damaged, filled the area. Crystal circuitry lined the walls. 

A few stone sea snakes guarded the ceiling. An eerie, continuous humming became unsettling to all. It seemed to greet them as they entered. 

"…And you ah thought that hall was creepy…" Vinny's match almost fell out of his mouth, his dark eyebrows raised. "Anyone got earplugs? I left mine on the sub…" 

Silence from the team answered. 

Milo's voice finally penetrated the tone. 

"Well, Kida, you said you wanted to know just how advanced your people were. I think this is a pretty big hint." 

There was no reply. Instead, she went to a table, flipping through some pages, She looked confused. 

"'Ey, whatcha find? You look as confused as I was when I tried to make my first pipe bomb when I was age, eh, 18. _That_ was a boom." 

"…I do not understand these terms." 

Milo picked up a book, opening it. "Like what?" 

"'TOO-leh-bekh-nohl.'" 

The linguist's face watched Kida's. "It sounds like it's derived from two different words meaning--" 

"'Twist' and 'component?' The queen handed him the papers, pointing. 

"Yeah…" 

"Would it have anything to do with the machinery around here?" 

"No, Audrey, it doesn't seem to… This… Doesn't make much sense. It's written in the phraseology of the time with religious overtones. You can't take it too literally. 'SHAH--'" 

"¿Inglés o español solo, por favor?" Audrey reminded. "Preferably English." 

"Sorry about that. '…The Spirit, thus summoned by the act, moves from the two into the one, and the feeling fades, the celebration of its arrival ceasing. It busies itself, taking what it needs for its vessel. The 'twisted components,' for lack of a better term, will be tools for the Spirit to carry out its needs…' They seem to be excerpts from this book, judging by the style of these sketches." A light went on, but Milo shook his head. It made no sense as far as he believed, and that it was impossible. No culture could have figured this out that long ago. The modern world had just discovered it. 

"What eez the book's title?" 

"Volume 32." 

"Well, that doesn't help us none." Sweet peered into some small glass containers. "Any clue what these things are?" 

The crew walked over. 

"They are like… little animals in oil," Kida commented, picking up a container. "Look, this is an octopus… I believe…" She peered into the mass of tentacles. 

"A very old octopus. Judgeeing by zee color of zee leequeed and zee good condeetion of zee speceemeens for their ages… these could be notheeng other than formaldehyde." 

"Or a similar concoction," Milo said, picking up a squid with unusually long fins. "I, for one, don't plan on sticking my nose in it to find--" 

He stopped as Mole popped a jar open and actually did sniff before replacing the lid. "I was right. Formaldehyde. Delicately aged to a possible perfection over 8856 years." 

The linguist looked to Dr. Sweet, who remarked, "That can't be too healthy." 

Milo nodded at the physician's quiet comment. He turned around and heard a crunch. Looking down, he was crushing glass under his thick brown boots. Before him was an old glass tank, huge. It was big enough to place a few killer whales into. The glass had long been broken. "…Wonder what they kept in here…?" 

"Do we wanna know?" Sweet crunched behind him, followed by Kida. The others wandered. 

"Probably," she answered simply. "I would do anything to help open up the container of the past's secrets a little wider." 

"Maybe some of these papers will give us a clue." Milo picked them up, only to have them crumble in his hands. He paused, deciding to put down the book and other papers he had been carrying, just in case. "Well, um," the king cleared his throat, looking almost guilty. "Ooookay… Some of these aren't surviving as well as others…" He paused briefly to read a notice that said something about some plans being stolen. The criminal had used a piece of their technology to escape. He dared to blow dust off of a report that described twelve ships, each containing a specialist, were "about to be sent" around the world. Milo was afraid to move the paper yet. 

"This ah look familiar to anyone?" Vinny held up a metal rod at the other end of the room. By sheer angle alone it was obvious the rod was hollow. The demolitionist casually walked up to Milo, Kida, and Sweet, turning it over... 

A familiar set of runes adorned the tube. 

"YAHD-lu-goh-nikh!" 

"It's GAH-nokh-nihr! The Spear of Destiny!" 

"Or it's ah prototype. I saw other pieces, but none of them were crystal." 

"Wait a second…" He looked back over at the notice. "Apparently some plans for the Spear had been stolen before the cataclysm!" 

"Which means…" 

"Right, Kida. There actually _might_ be another Spear out there, made by a different people, maybe." 

"Over here!" Milo felt a little swept away as Audrey called him over. "What do you make of these?" She handed him a headband and a vial of what he thought was at first pebbles and grains of Atlantean Crystal. Upon closer inspection, crystal had been intricately worked into the "pebbles," which were actually much more intricate than he could have ever thought feasible. Tiny spiral shapes, corkscrews, projected from the sides. "Any ideas?" 

"Well, no… Were there any documents?" 

Audrey's attention went to Mole as he opened a door in the floor and scurried down the revealed steps. "Were, yes. Are? Looks like the water got to 'em." She rested the blueprint scroll on her shoulder and followed the geologist. The mechanics also held another scroll in her other hand, a piece of crystal hanging from it the source of its preservation through time. 

"Found something else?" Milo asked, looking at them. 

"Yeah, actually. A design drawing that matches the blueprints, but shows more than just the gauge and valve system. I think I have a rough idea as to what the symbols are supposed to be, just by context. So you don't need to record anything else now, Mr. Map." She elbowed him hard in teasing. 

"Ha, ha, very funny. For once I'm not the one with her nose stuck in old scrolls." He received a punch to the shoulder, though he had expected that. If it were not for the light of Mole's lantern and the crystals, he would have fallen down the stairs. 

"You catch that sign up there? Whatever it said?" 

"Yeah. 'Isolated Test Chamber 5.'" 

A few seconds time yielded a widening in the corridor as it opened up into a large chamber. The smell in the area was damp. Inside was… 

…Nothing it seemed. 

In fact, in the center of the area was a place where it looked like the floor had been scooped out. There was a half-sphere of nothingness. The contour of it was rippled, much like the submerged sand of the beach. Along the edges of this beautiful "crater" the floor had been ripped up, as if the event had been powerful. The smoothness of the "scoop,' the beautiful carving away at the stone was strange when compared to the violence of the shattered edges. 

"What on earth were they doing in here?" 

"Thees textureeng eez strange. No sort of erosion could have caused thees." 

Audrey walked along the edge, looking in. "Why did they carve-- AH!" She tripped on a protruding piece of rubble, but did not fall in. 

"You okay?" Milo helped her up. 

"Yeah, this stupid rock got in my way." She kicked it, but it didn't budge. 

"Hey… Wait a second. That's the corner of something. It… looks like it's been carved away, too, like whatever it was attached to was removed. Look. There's a number '3' here." He pointed to three dots, one above the other, which barely escaped the carving. 

"Well, whatever they had here, they took it out. Let's go." 

"Guess there isn't much more to see…" Milo shrugged to Audrey, and the three climbed the stairs. 

"As they reached the top, they were greeted by Sweet. "Find anything?" 

"A hole. A great big dip in the ground." 

"Well, it looks like it was carved out by some force, to amend Audrey, though how, I'm stumped. This whole place… It's… I think they designed the shelters around this lab." 

"Why?' 

"Well, Sweet, it might be that if there was a disaster, they believed their technology, or its development, would save them. I mean, it makes sense to protect their technology too." 

"Lot of good it did them." Audrey shook her head. 

"Ey, if you don't ah try, you don't get ah any 'good.'" Vinny shrugged as he walked up. 

The doctor gestured with a huge, dark-skinned hand toward a gate, the steel bars intricately entwined. "Well, it isn't the whole lab. Milo, there's another door." Streaks had been left in the dust, showing where a cart had been moved aside to reveal the once-blocked gate. 

"According to the map," Audrey began, "there should also be another set of pressure gauges in there. 

The crew all took a closer look. 

Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The Name "Shards of Chaos" is property of Disney. The term "gorlock" is property of Disney Interactive. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Bendoh, Rourke and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company. 


	5. Reoccuring Nightmare

CHAPTER 5: Reoccurring Nightmare 

"'SOH-kah-nohl TEE-mikh dihn.' Type two security," Kida read carefully. 

Milo peered over her shoulder. "Directions seem the same," he said, starting to read. The warrior moved in front of him, sighing, but blocking his view. He looked through the tight-woven bars, barely making out what must have been the glistening of glass and the shapes of various instruments. 

Kida placed her hand in the slot on the doorframe. Once again she quickly pulled it out, sucking in air through clenched teeth to bear with the ebbing pain of the stab. 

The gate slid upward, and a blue beam streamed down from the top of the gateway, illuminating intricate floor patterns. 

The queen peered in, then led, passing into the light, and entering the dark room beyond. 

The moment she left the doorway, the gate crashed down behind her, giving everyone a start. Kida rushed to the bars, trying to lift them. She glanced to the side, and then fiddled with something on the doorframe. "This panel is damaged!" 

"Kida!" Milo was on the other side, looking in. "I'm not sure if I can open the door. I wasn't born Atlantean." He moved aside. 

Sweet and Mole were both trying to lift the door, but with little luck. 

"But you have been een Atlantees longer than any of us out here," Mole grunted. 

"I'll give it a shot." The linguist put his hand in the slot. "YEE-IEE!" He pulled back when he felt a deep stab in his pointer finger. A tiny glow disappeared as he heard a soft humming behind him. 

The cartographer looked to the gate. Nothing seemed to happen. "Kida, are you sure the panel on your side is broken?" 

The white-haired woman glanced down a moment as she spoke before facing him again. "Yes, I am very sure it…" Her eyes were no longer focused on him, but now somewhere past and above. 

"What are you…?" Milo turned to look, seeing one of the stone sea snakes on the ceiling move, eyes radiating blue light. It looked right at him. 

"Look out!" Everyone dodged as blue lightning sizzled from the serpent's jaws, cutting a large whole straight through the bars. The energy surged on, searing through jars of fluids and imbedding itself in a panel at the other end of the room. The fluid in the containers ignited, and the panel of gauges exploded. 

"Kida!!!" 

The floor shook. 

A dark-colored hand and the cuff of a singed sleeve reached through the hole in the gate, groping for and quickly finding the access panel and slot. 

As the door opened, Milo helped Kida away from the fire. 

Pieces of the ceiling began to fall. The linguist could hear his ears pop. 

"Milo! This place is ah comin' down faster than my last flower shop!" 

"Eet is worse than that, Vinny! Thees type of tremors, as noted by zee severity and the tone of the rumble, are from deeper in zee earth!" 

"Then… That means…" Milo looked to Kida. 

"The Pillar of Atlantis! We must return immediately and help our people!" The crew had begun to run, pausing only to reopen the type-one security door. 

"They'll never make it…" Milo was at a loss for words. 

"Yes they will, but neither them nor us will last long if we don't hurry!" Everyone stopped to look at Audrey. 

"How?!" Milo bent down the same time Audrey did to help her unroll the maps. 

"The gauge panels. The same pressure systems that must have been used to contain any chemical spill or fire must be what's keeping this place together! Minimize danger here, and you minimize it in Atlantis!" 

Milo was scanning the map intensely. More than just his life was at stake. "…Audrey, how do you know all this?!" 

"Complex pneumatic and hydraulic systems. Whitmore didn't hire me for nothing. Move it!" 

"Right! All of you get the switches we've already found. I'll get the other two. Get to the aqua-evac as soon as everyone can. Don't wait more than--" 

"I am going with you!" Kida announced firmly, yet worried. "You cannot do this alone." 

"Kida! You're going to be needed…" 

She gave him a look and his heart sank. 

"I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?" The scholar's mind raced as she shook her head. He recalculated his plan, knowing now what he must forfeit. "Okay, then, let's move!" 

The team split, and Milo and Kida rushed down the hall. The ceiling found it quite a chore to hold up its own weight, and intermittently relieved itself of it, sending the couple scrambling to avoid being crushed. 

The hall opened up into a circular room before continuing. There were the familiar markings of a gauge panel set into the wall. Milo yanked it open with ease, or rather, it almost flew open as steam, shot out. 

A cracking sound above their heads alerted them to a large chunk about to fall. They dodged, watching the immense boulder hit the ground and roll onto its long side. 

The wall began to crack, small pieces falling away to reveal crystal circuitry. 

"How do we know if we've adjusted it correctly?!" 

"I-I don't know, I don't know!" When the worst of the steam cleared, Milo reached his hand in, fingers gripping the dial, only to be burned. 

"AH!!!" He pulled back, quickly pulling his sleeves over his hands and reaching again for the dials. He turned one until a loud "click" was heard, the steam reducing. He could turn it no more. 

There was a beep from their belts. The two looked down, seeing their communications boxes still there. Milo pushed the button as Kida joined them at the dials with sleeve-covered hands. 

"Milo! Kida! Turn—dials unteel—lock een place!" Mole's voice fizzed through the other end 

"Gotcha!" Milo yelled. 

The steam dissipated completely with the last click. 

The ground shook harder. A crystal rod, a piece of the circuit, fell out of place, leaving only the very end of it sticking out of the stone. It was like a short pole. 

Steam once again erupted from the box. 

"Not again!" Milo reached for the dials. He glanced around as his fingers fiddled, and an idea struck him. "Kida!" The man pointed a finger from the boulder to the rod. 

"Give me a boost upward!" He followed her to the monstrous slab, giving her a leg up, albeit awkward, to help her up where there were no hand or footholds. The huntress quickly scaled the rest of the boulder, and then stood at the far end of the massive slab. She broke into a run, leaping off the other side. A careful kick-off gave her body a backwards spin. As she neared the "pole," she lashed out, kicking upwards to knock it back into the wall. 

Kida landed hard on her feet, falling forward in a heap. 

"Kida!" This was proof to Milo what he needed to do as he helped her up. She was all right, he saw, and he knew he could not let the precious blood of the queen be in peril. 

He could not let his wife be in peril. 

With the steam no longer spewing forth, Milo led the way, avoiding bones, rocks, and jumping over the occasional vehicle. 

A familiar smell greeted them. 

The hall of the dead appeared once again, but even more horrible as the dead were destroyed. Water began to spray violently from cracks in the walls. 

"Milo! What are we doing here?! Milo!" 

He did not answer, only to run into the side passageway. 

The floor in front of them released its anger at being awakened and split, steam shooting out of the crack. 

"YAH!!!" Milo spun his arms to jump back. 

"YAHD-lu-goh-nikh!" 

As the steam slowed, a malevolent red glow shone upon the sides of the cracks. 

The linguist said nothing, but narrowed his eyes in determination and jumped over the crack, his vision blurred by steamed glasses, and his skin turned tender from the heat. 

"Milo?!" Kida emerged from the wall of steam. 

He ran to the swordfish vehicle's controls, scanning directions and busily working the panel. 

Kida began to grow angry, frustrated at Milo's silence and her inability to help. It rumbled in her voice as she shouted at him, following him to the now-open cockpit. "Milo!!! What do you plan to use this for?!" 

He stopped, looking into her eyes, almost apologetically. "You." Immediately Milo took advantage of the surprise, shoving her into the glowing cockpit as she cried out. Hastily he closed the hatch and ran for the control panel. Roars of rage and the sound of Kida beating on the sealed door met his ears. The king was not looking forward to her reaction when they would next meet. 

That is, if he survived. 

With the punch of a station number, the vehicle rose, aligned itself, and shot forward with incredible speed. 

"Okay, Milo, find the nearest vehicle!" He ran out, heading into the last, unexplored corridor, taking corners so tight he almost rammed his shoulders into them. "C'mon, vehicle… Vehicle…" He came to a dead stop. "Oh, great…" 

To one side was a kelokh. 

**. . .**

"MY-loh-toap! NEE-pukh!" Kida's rage burned in her voice as she beat on the inside of the vehicle, struggling, but unable to open the hatch. 

She could feel the vehicle turning, moving away, and she steadied herself. 

Before the queen had time to blink the floor moved out from under her, and she slammed against the back wall of the cockpit. 

Kida rubbed the back of her head, feeling the pain melt away as soothingly as ice. 

"The walls," she murmured, looking at their glow, realizing why they were lined with sheets of crystal. 

There was no time to ponder over it any longer. She had to do something, but what she was not immediately sure. 

Suddenly she reached for her communications box at her side, hoping it had not been broken. 

Kida pressed the buttons very hard, her voice forceful, angry and fearful "Is anyone listening?! This is Kida speaking! This is an emergency!" 

A voice came through the other side, almost incomprehensible through the static. 

**. . .**

"Kida?! Kida!" Audrey looked on as Sweet used his brawn to turn the last corroded dial. 

"We can barely hear you!" Mole stood on tip-toes to yell into the receiver. "Milo tricked m-- shoved -- into-- Now-- by himself-- Last dial-- get -- -ed help!" 

Vinny and Audrey looked to each other, a little unsure of what they had to do. 

The demolitionist answered on his own communicator. "'Ey, where are you? Are you ah safe?" 

"Y-- --vehi-- do not-- where. --elp Milo! He is -- kill himse--!" Her voice was furious. 

_Click! _ Sweet finished the job. 

"We'll do what we can," the doctor answered as they began to run for the aqua-evac. "Hold on!" 

"Save--!" The transmission was broken. 

**. . .**

Milo could hardly hear himself think over the roar of the old vehicle and the rumble of rock around him. 

The king knew what he had sacrificed. Kida knew that getting Kida to the surface was too important. That was true for both the Atlanteans and for his heart. 

He only prayed she would survive the bends. 

The kelock rose and he rounded the corner, picking up speed. 

Walls, ceilings, and floors were cracking all around him. Surrendering to the agent that is chaos. Steam rushed out, announcing its freedom with such vibrancy and enthusiastic, rebellious energy it proved painful whenever Milo met with it. 

The area was labyrinthine, and Milo quickly lost track of where he was in relation to all else. Occasionally a wall would collapse and the linguist would look back to see where he had been just a short time earlier. 

Falling rubble was beginning to tear at the links of the sail, snagging it and making the vehicle much harder to pilot. 

There was little choice. 

Fingers slid along the fin-bar, feeling for the small protrusion. 

Milo entered a great hall, but its greatness was literally crumbling away as the fin snapped down. He reeled, trying desperately to keep his balance. Finally finding a stable position, he let the vehicle move slightly. 

Amongst the steam and the water coming in, Milo looked on, determined. The rushing wind buffeted his body as if trying to hold him back. 

Only his hair and his sweater yielded to the whim of the wind. 

He pressed his lips together, thought a prayer, and awkwardly dodged the debris as he exited the great hall. 

**. . .**

Kida reached back, the sudden turn having ripped the communications box from her fingers. She pressed the button again. 

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!" 

Not even static answered. 

The queen tossed the box aside, useless, to put her hands on the armrests to steady herself. 

There was a muffled sound. 

I was like screaming. 

She could feel the vehicle touch ground. It shook violently, to the point that she could feel her breath come in spurts. 

The hatch opened and sensation flooded her. 

It was night, and the red glow of the calling crystal was shocking. Terrified people ran right past her, not noticing. She could literally see the plaster coming off the walls, the repaired columns, the beautiful frescos languishing. Buildings began to crumble. 

It was a reoccurring nightmare. 

Yet, that was only the beginning of what she felt. 

The moment she stepped out of the vehicle she felt lightheaded. Kida's entire left side felt suddenly weak, then numb, and she staggered. It was hard for her to breathe. The pain in her joints was unbearable, and she gritted her teeth as the world spun, glowing red. 

As she collapsed, the queen thought it was changing to blue. 

**. . .**

Every dodge was a trial, and Milo could barely stay on the kelokh. He was tiring, but there was little he could do. 

The cartographer knew he had to be close. 

A large boulder presented itself, and Milo swerved, but another rock clipped the back edge of his vehicle. 

It was enough. 

Milo fell forward, hugging the vehicle as it hit the floor, sliding. After a few painful rolls, it came to a stop. Milo lay there a second, trying to decide if he could get up off the slab floor, let alone discern if anything was broken. 

He rose, looking up. 

There was the last gauge panel before him, and necessity drove the man on. He flung the door open. Shielding his face with his hands as steam burst out. He pulled his sleeves over his hands again, rocks landing hard on his body as he worked the dials. 

Milo could barely see through fogged lenses, but he didn't need to see to find that the last valve was going to be hard to turn. Both hands on it, he put what muscle he had into his labor. 

"…Almost there…!" 

The floor suddenly gave way, and Milo looked down, seeing a gruesome sight. Far below lava boiled, and as he fell he saw water pour down the sides of the chasm. 

Milo saw death before him and his heart pounded in his ears. Frantic he rolled over in the air, grabbing rocks that were falling from the ceiling. He desperately tossed them at the last dial. 

_Clack! _ It hit another rock. 

_Clang! _ A stone bounced off the gauge. 

_Snap! _

_Crack! _

Milo fell. 

_Clack--CLICK!!! _

Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The Name "Shards of Chaos" is property of Disney. The term "gorlock" is property of Disney Interactive. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Bendoh, Rourke and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company. 


	6. Aftermath

CHAPTER 6: Aftermath 

The fissure itself was quiet in comparison to its surroundings, but that would not remain. 

Grinding rock voiced its presence, blocking water from lava. The water had only one place to flee. 

Upward it shot. 

Milo was tossed from the rift by the explosion of water, and landed with a hard thud. The continued pressure forced the crack closed, leaving the linguist laying in the water, exhausted. 

He had to get up. 

As Milo struggled to rise, a new sound made itself known, a hot electric hum, almost, echoing through the halls. 

The wall crumbled, and he saw an Atlantean vehicle swerve to go through the new entrance. 

"Audrey!" 

"Hurry up! When this all comes down, I don't wanna be around!" 

Milo boarded the ketak immediately, hanging on tight as the Latina drove, using any shortcut she could. He watched as water began to pour in. 

The dust of the bones tinted the foam 

As they entered the loading bay Milo's eyes were wide, the wall of water behind them in the distance massive. He looked forward, seeing Sweet, Vinny and Mole at the cargo bay doors, ready to close them. 

Audrey slipped in, the ketak hitting the floor hard. The two of them where thrown from their vehicle. A high screeching sound attacked their ears as the stone of the ketak scraped along iron and steel. 

As the two got up, Vinny and Mole ran for the cockpit as the door slammed shut, taking the controls in their hands. The impact of the water on the aqua-evac was intense, a vengeful blow upon the intruders that disturbed its home. Milo landed sprawled on the floor as Audrey flew into him. 

"'Ey, hold on. This is ah gonna be bumpier than a ride in my father's old flower truck. Well, except when it--" 

"Drive!!!" came multiple voices. 

After a few seconds Milo dared to get up. 

They had, indeed, cleared the building, he knew. Like some expiring beast he imagined it falling to the sea floor, visible only through eerie explosions. 

He sighed as a part of Atlantis's past crumbled away. 

"Milo?" 

Yes, Aud-- YOW!!!" Audrey had punched him very hard in the shoulder. "What was that--?!" 

"That was for me…" Milo didn't get a chance to flee before she punched him in the stomach. He fell to the floor again. "And that was for your wife." 

"H--h--hey!!!" Milo gasped, doubled over. He knew what he had done, but he wasn't quite sure if he deserved quite that much. 

They approached the sub, but as they turned to enter the Sea Hawk itself, a terrible sight greeted them. 

It was nothing. 

The Pillar of Atlantis was gone, or, rather, laid across the sea floor with the old ruins, the history of Atlantis, unlocked and destroyed. 

There was a hole in the sea floor. 

Thus Milo's heart sank deeper than Atlantis did. 

**. . .**

"Uh-huh. Okay, then. I'll see you later, Ben!" Sweet waved goodbye to the young ensign and departed, his mind returning to a previous conversation. 

The outlandishness of Atlantis's existence was suddenly a blessing, the physician thought. With Atlantis once again closed off from the world, there was no reason to make it known, and probably better for its safely, as attack or espionage down there would be hard to detect until it was too late. 

The ambassadors would "discover" their judgment was right, that it was just a hoax, and their time, just as they had suspected, would have been wasted. 

That was why they were back on the Atlantean, heading back to Whitmore's mansion. Things had to be set back in place the way they were before Atlantis rose, or else it would all be put at risk. 

Sweet rounded the corner on his way back to sickbay. He wanted to check back up on Kida, who was taken along. As queen of Atlantis, it was important she was also a part of this. 

The doctor saw Milo poking his head into the room as he neared. Hearing Sweet, he looked back and gave him a worried smile. 

"Milo, ya feelin' any better?" he asked quietly, just in case his patient was still asleep. 

"Well, physically, yes, but I'm still exhausted. Just checking to see if Kida's awake yet." 

The doctor smiled and nodded. 

They entered together, and the room was perfumed with the scent of disinfectants. Indeed, Sweet was a doctor before his time. Needles, containers, bandages and tools were neatly stored on the shelves and the table. Milo's note to an ensign about what had happened to Atlantis had been previously left on the table, forgotten. Sweet shook his head at that and picked it up, planning to hand it back to the scholar, but he paused. A puddle of water was on the countertop next to a sink. A beaker speckled with water droplets sat in the puddle. 

Lip prints were faintly visible on the rim. 

Milo went to the curtain, taking hold of the edge. 

"Kida?" he whispered. "It's me, Milo." He drew back the curtain, but the disheveled bed was empty. The I.V. had been disconnected. "My gosh… Sweet? Did you move her?" 

"What?" He took a look for himself. "That girl should be in bed after what she went through." He looked back to the sink. "At least she's gotten some water besides through the I.V." 

"Help me find her. We need to talk about what's happened." 

"Sure thing. Right on it." 

They both exited the room, pondering and heading separate directions. 

He knew Kida was in no shape to be up and about. Considering how quickly she reached the surface, the doctor knew she had to have experienced some of the symptoms of the bends. 

Luckily, it seemed, the crystal had solved the problem, but not before putting an enormous amount of stress on her body. From Milo's description of her when she returned from the crystal the first time, she was exhausted. When the crew had reached Atlantis after its second sinking, the native doctors reported she was still not awake, despite the vast amount of time she had been unconscious. 

Had it not been for the fact that she moved or occasionally mumbled in her sleep, Sweet might have determined that she was in a coma. 

It was clear that between the bends and being a host, the queen had reached a physical, mental, and emotional burn out. 

With her out of bed, however, it was obvious she was recovering. 

A strange noise came from an unoccupied room. Sweet stopped to listen. 

It was not unlike a gasp. 

The physician poked his head in, listening in the darkness. The sound had stopped as mysteriously as it began. 

He gave a quiet shrug, clicking in the lights. 

Sweet's head turned at a sudden, though slight, shuffling of sheets. 

In the furthest shadows of the bottom bunk was Kida, her arms holding her legs close to her chest. A piece of tape remaining on her wrist was the only indicator she that she had the I.V. at all. The incision was gone, apparently healed. 

"Kida? So this's where ya went. Milo and I were lookin' for ya. You need ta be in bed." 

"…Do not tell Milo you found me like this." Her hands went to wipe her face. 

"Why? You okay?" 

"I have learned it is a sign of weakness in your culture to be seen crying. I do not want him worrying about my strength. There are more important things to worry about than me." 

"That's for men. Crying I mean. And--" 

"…And why not women?" 

"…I don't know, thinkin' 'bout it. And you're definitely something worth worrying about. Milo could tell ya that." 

"You know what I meant." 

"I think so. But it's okay to cry. Even men on the surface cry." Sweet sat down on the bunk. "Now, ya need your rest. Lemme guess, you got up so he wouldn't see ya cry?" 

She nodded. 

"It's okay." He motioned for her to sit by him, and she reluctantly scooted over. "I've seen a lot of soldiers die. And I've seen grown men weepin' for each other. They cry when wives or their children die. Bein' a doctor isn't easy. Sometimes you just can't work miracles. But ya know, it teaches ya the toughest men can have sympathetic hearts." He put a kind hand on her shoulder, her face downcast. The medic saw a few tears hit the floor as her frame shook with a few silent sobs. "Now, let it all out. Words, tears, whatever ya need." 

She sniffed, but she let herself break down again, and leaned her head against Sweet's side as she wept. Finally words emerged from the waves of sobs. "I remember the mayhem. I saw the note on the table. Atlantis has sunken again. It is in ruins again… because of me! It is my fault…!" 

"Nooo… Ya can't go blamin' yourself for that. Ya know it's not your fault." 

"It is, Sweet!" She looked up at him, her voice certain, firm. "My curiosity led to our second downfall. I disturbed the dead, the Spirits of Old Atlantis, and this is the punishment… My people can no longer enjoy the light of the sun or the beauty of the stars! …I brought Atlantis to the surface to share the light of the Mother Crystal with the world, and so others could rejoice in its healing and enlightenment. But now that light is gone, lost from the world again. What good ruler would let this happen? The legacy of my people is doomed to remain as the story of our destruction." She turned away, shaking her head. "All our repairs have been ruined! The buildings will still not be as easy to repair as the palace or the statues once had been. The whole city is not made of crystal-granite. And so much worse, people_ died_! …Temlon, my supreme chancellor was one of them… …It was all for waste." 

"No. It wasn't. Ya gave your people the chance to walk on the surface again, to know what its like. Now, if they want, they can come up with us and enjoy it, too. They know they're not confined here. And they'll have stories ta tell their children of the queen who tried. And when those children come with their parents to the surface, can ya imagine their faces? They'd have grins as big as Milo when he found Atlantis." 

Kida laughed weakly at that, wiping away a tear. 

"Maybe there's another Spear out there. But when Atlantis can rise again, the people will know what it's like, and the celebration will be even more spectacular than the last time's. And as for your curiosity… it saved Atlantis too. If you or Milo weren't so curious, traditions would still be dyin'. Kida… You're not solely responsible for this. You're not responsible at all for it. You were trying to learn about Atlantis's past. It saved Atlantis last time. Knowledge saves. I'm sure Milo would tell ya that." 

Her expression softened as Sweet stood up. 

"It'll all work out. You'll see. You'll see. Now, ya need your rest. Not to mention ya need some food in your system. Want an escort to sickbay?" 

"No… Thank you." She was slow to rise to her feet, obviously fatigued. "But do not tell Milo you found me yet." 

"Need a few minutes ta yourself?" They walked to the door. 

"Yes." 

"Ya got it. Get your rest." He rubbed her back as he turned to go back into the hall. 

"Sweet?" 

"Yeah?" 

"…Thank you." Kida revealed a small smile. 

"Anytime," he smiled back. "Anytime." 

**. . .**

So the _Atlantean _sailed on its course. 

Yet elsewhere, a journey had already been completed. Beyond the ship, past the waves, and all the way to the shore, a simple fishing vessel docked where a mother and a young, brown-haired child waited. 

"John, not too close!" The mother caught the boy by his suspenders before he could reach the end of the pier. 

"But I wanna see Daddy!" 

The woman picked him up. "He's coming, Sweetie." She looked up to watch men get off the boat. "See, _there_ he is!" 

The child bounced with excitement in her arms. "DaddydaddydaddydaddyDADDY!" 

She sighed, and then put him down. He ran to his father. 

"Daddy!" 

"Johnny! Have you grown? C'mere!" He dropped his bag and lovingly snatched up the child, who squealed in delight. 

The mother walked up. "Welcome back, Jim." 

"Great to be home, Tarilyn," he said, kissing her. 

"Daddy! Tell me a sea story! What happened to you_ this_trip?!" 

Jim handed the child back to his mother so he could pick his sack of supplies back up. "Well, would you believe I actually saw Atlantis?" He smiled from ear to ear. 

"Really?! Wow!!!" 

"Jim!" The mother looked sternly at him. "I thought we agreed to no more wild stories. Our child's going to be a mess if you keep filling his head with such silliness." 

"I'm not kidding this time. I saw it!" 

"Tellmetellmetellmetellme!" 

"Jim…" 

"Mommy? _Please_?" The little boy looked up at her with huge eyes of wonder and an innocent smile. 

The mother grinned in awe. "Oh, Good Lord… Okay, go ahead, tell him." 

"Yay!" 

She saw the father put on his "story face," a look of zeal that could bring a smile to anyone. "Okay, I've told you about Atlantis, Right?" 

"Yeah! They were a good people who were really ad-van-sed--" 

"'Advanced.'" 

"Uh-huh, but then they got all mean and Poseidon punished 'em by sending this huge wave that went and sunk 'em! Pow!" The child added sound effects and hand motions to illustrate the fall of Atlantis. 

"Well, would you believe it rose?" 

"Jim…" 

"No, really!" 

"Neat!!!" 

"It was a slow day fishing, and, lo and behold, the fish started jumping right into our boat! The water was boiling. And up in a blue bubble came Atlantis!" 

"What did the people look like? Were they mean?" 

"John, they were the nicest people you'd ever meet. They had dark skin and white hair. Some even had blue tattoos!" 

"I want a tattoo!" 

"When you're older, dear." The mother patted the boy's head. 

"Did you meet the king?" 

"Actually, there was a queen. The king doesn't have as much power yet. Everyone looks to her." 

"Did you meet either of 'em?" 

"Well, no, but their people liked them. They seemed like kind, good people." 

"I wanna see Atlantis!" 

"We can't." 

"Why not?!" 

"It sunk again." 

"Were they bad?" 

"No, not at all. It just sank. I guess it just wasn't their time. But I heard stories from the people there. The most amazing started before you were even born, back in 1914." 

"Are they as good as the one where Poseidon sent that big wave and sunk 'em?" 

"Johnny, they're much, much better. Better than you could ever realize. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle or whoever would've died to hear these stories. I was a boy back in 1914, but I remember headlines about an unsuccessful mission to find it. But that was far from fact. You see, a man named Milo Thatch worked in a huge museum called the Smithsonian. He loved Atlantis, and he was determined to find it. It was his dream…" 

TEAM ATLANTIS: THE LIGHT LOST 

  


Credits:   
The Last Section Dedicated to:   
Tarilyn:   
Fall Advantage 2003 Vista Way   
Jim Hawkins/Treasure Planet fan and friend. 

Starting my little obsession:   
Walt Disney   
&   
Everyone Involved in Making the Movie   
Including:   
Don Hahn   
Gary Trousdale   
Kirk Wise   
Michael J. Fox   
Cree Summer   
James Newton Howard   
To Name a Few 

Fellow Fans (To name a few, and in no particular order:)   
From the Search for Atlantis RPG, the Atlantis IS Waiting RPG and the Destination Atlantis Forum:   
Lisa   
Mahteim Mu   
Shahnahkehm   
Karen   
Julie   
Sarah   
Jodotha   
Cali   
Goblinqueeen   
Princesszeldabelle   
Mollydove   
Dawn   
RoamingTigress   
Bitsy   
Lieutenant Starlite   
Vegakeep   
Malkavien   
Bubblegumgrl   
Jarofpaintbrushes   
MegServo   
Sáhtibakósh/Jinjue   
DareDelvil   
Cacomixl   
Fuse   
Syren   
Roaklin   
Kat   
isoldescheurer   
jozedxyqk   
Samgirl   
Kathleen   
Atlantisfan 

Those Who Introduced Me to Fan Fiction:   
Everyone in the AtlantistheMovie Yahoo! Group   
Including, but not exclusive to:   
Zudomon   
Grim=20Stripper   
Kida Grath   
Raymond Chuang   
Ruggaphile   
Dibsdib   
Freakhybrid   
The Snow Grygon   
Jjvo   
Lisa   
Karen   
Julie 

Inspiration:   
The "Treasure Planet" soundtrack, and thus   
The scene rip-offs and character allusions. ;")   
  
God   
The Movie and All Those Involved   
James Newton Howard, Whose Music Made Me a Fan   
Whatever that place is where my mind wanders to and doesn't come back 

In Loving Memory:   
Smokey Charcoal Briquette   
History's Sweetest Hamster 

Well, I notice you're still reading. I hope you enjoyed my story, and I hope you can now bare the sequel if you hated it! Yes, I'm still revamping my other stories. Just need to watch a certain good Disney movie that bombed first...   
PAH-geh-sheh-nekh 

Based off the Disney Picture "Atlantis: the Lost Empire." The Name "Shards of Chaos" is property of Disney. The term "gorlock" is property of Disney Interactive. The characters, "MUH-suh MIH-kee" and Khohbdesheh are my property, and I acknowledge I do not own the names. Fan fiction storyline also my property. Milo Thatch, Kidagakash, Bendoh, Rourke and other characters, names, concepts, and all Atlantean in this story are property of the Walt Disney Company.   
  


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> **Disclaimer:** _Atlantis: the Lost Empire,_ and the characters, language, symbols, storylines and titles are property of he Walt Disney Company. This site has been created for entertainment, non-profit purposes only. See sources. 
> 
> Permission must be granted by the fan authors/artists before their material is to be used. Credit must also be given to the respective author/artist in question. Do so via their e-mail. Questions? Comments? E-mail me at LikeAStar8800yahoo.com.


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